Munster make Final Preparations

Ahead of the clash this evening with Glasgow, the Munster squad woke up this morning in a city bathed in sunshine and basking in the glory of the achievements of Celtic in the UEFA Cup last night.

Ahead of the clash this evening with Glasgow, the Munster squad woke up this morning in a city bathed in sunshine and basking in the glory of the achievements of the Celtic team in the UEFA Cup the night before.

Billeted in Jury’s Hotel on the Great Western Road, literally five minutes from the match venue, Munster’s presence has gone largely unnoticed with the focus of people’s attention and most of the talk centring around the heoics from the Nou Camp stadium while rugby eyes are being cast towards Lansdowne Road.

Even the newspapers seem blissfully unaware of this evening’s fixture with not one mention of the game in the daily edition of The Herald.

However that is of little concern to Alan Gaffney as he prepares his side for what will be the second last game before the Heineken Cup quarter-final clash with Stade Francais. Preparation remains the same.

The squad arrived in Glasgow yesterday at 3pm having flown from Cor Airport. The transfer from Glasgow Airport was unusually swift because the coach ferrying the team pulled up to the aircraft on the apron and the squad were whisked to their hotel without having to go through the terminal building.

After a light snack in Jury’s the squad walked across the Great Western Road to the Kelvinside Academy School’s grounds where they had a 40 minute work-out supervised by Gaffney and assistant coach Brian Hickey.

Munster will be without Christian Cullen who remains home in Cork nursing a slight back strain although he is expected to play in the game against Celtic Warriors in a week’s time.

That game will see Munster have their full compliment restored for the first time in eight weeks with just a week to go before the Heineken quarter final.

Besides the internationals Gaffney is also hopeful that Mike Mullins (jaw), Anthony Horgan (ribs) and Jeremy Staunton (groin) will all have returned from injury.